Today, the cost of non-latex gloves is close to latex gloves, especially when the cost savings a non-latex environment generates is taken into account.

The main cost saving associated with the elimination of latex is the avoidance of latex allergic adverse events and the associated cost of lost time and productivity plus the cost of treatment if a patient or healthcare workers develops a clinical response. For healthcare workers, this could result in increased sick leave, which can create extra costs on agency replacement staff and employee turnover. In addition to this, there are other advantages to consider such as decreased O.R. turnover time for a latex-allergy patient surgery and the elimination of time and product wasted when surgery is cancelled/postponed if a patient’s allergy is discovered at the last minute; requiring a teardown of the O.R. There are also logistical advantages such as the consolidation of lines, simplified ordering, and more space available in the O.R. store room due to the reduced number of products required.